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Many German states and institutions have put in place rules that German citizens must support Israel.

For example, Berlin wanted to force artists to denounce any criticism of Israel in order to receive any grant money. That was dropped due to a boycott by artists. People wishing to apply for German citizenship in Saxony-Anhalt must declare that Israel has a right to exist and condemn any attacks made against it.

Has any German politician discussed making this a national policy?

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    The (somewhat contentious) argument made by the government in Saxony-Anhalt is that this already is national policy in Germany since (they allege), acknowledging Israels right to exist is implicit in the "Freiheitlich Demokratische Grundordnung" (liberal democratic basic order). Not sure I fully agree, but asking to "not deny a right to exist" is not quite as high a bar as making people "support" Israel.
    – Eike Pierstorff
    Commented Feb 28 at 16:43
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    @ccprog I provided examples of two states, since the Berlin institution is also part of the Berlin state.
    – Stack Exchange Supports Israel
    Commented Feb 28 at 16:56
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    @ReasonablyAgainstGenocide Israel's "right to exist" is generally construed to include its right to do what it is currently doing Citations on that one, please. Plenty of people aren't particularly thrilled about Israel's pre-10/7 behavior, yet support its right to exist. Stop pushing your agenda and interpretation on everyone. Plenty of people think Israel should get more constraints in its Gaza operations, yet support its right to exist. Asking how democracies constrain free speech is on topic here, so no DV or VTC, but there is a whiff of agenda around this question.
    – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica
    Commented Feb 28 at 17:00
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    @ReasonablyAgainstGenocide no, that is not at all what this means, and you are free and welcome to criticize the killing of civilians in Gaza in Germany, even if it upsets politicians and other people (not everything some politician says is automatically legal and valid).
    – Eike Pierstorff
    Commented Feb 28 at 17:00
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    @ItalianPhilosophers4Monica The argument is usually made the other way around. People critize Israel and this is interpreted as denying Israels right to exist and there are calls for harsh punishments (most recent example the pro Palestine statements during the Berlinale movie festival and the reaction by German/ Berlin politicians). Wether the people critizing Israel themselves intended this to mean they deny Israels right to exist is generally a hard question.
    – quarague
    Commented Feb 28 at 18:29

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Not as you put it, but close.

The German term for the constitutional order is freiheitlich-demokratische Grundordnung (short FDGO, translated free and democratic basic order). There are questions and debates on just when a person has to endorse it and when it is enough not to oppose it. And also if any specific parts should be enumerated when one endorses it. For instance, civil servants are held to a higher standard of support to the FDGO than ordinary citizens.

  • People seeking naturalization as German citizens must declare their acceptance of the German constitution. The words which are traditionally used do not enumerate any specific parts of the FDGO, but the Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz enumerates antisemitic as well as xenophobic crimes to preclude naturalization in certain cases.

  • When groups are seeking public funding, especially in the context of youth programs, there was consideration if those groups they should formally accept the constitutional order and distance themselves from extremism. The term for that is Extremismusklausel. That debate is ongoing, and Israel is just a small part of that.

There is a reasonably widespread consensus that the FDGO implies the German support for the right of Israel to exist (Die Sicherheit Israels ist deutsche Staatsräson, the security of Israel is the German national interest). It does not preclude calls for a ceasefire, for the two-state solution, or denouncing the far-right Israeli government.

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